Hepatitis C Infection Research & Policy Recommendations

A note from TheBody.com: The field of medicine is constantly evolving. As a result, parts of this article may be outdated. Please keep this in mind, and be sure to visit other parts of our site for more recent information!

The CDC should further investigate the role of HCV sexual transmission
in men who have sex with men.

The CDC should update its 1998 HCV recommendations to suggest HCV
testing for all persons with HIV/AIDS.

More research should be conducted to completely understand the
immunologic responses associated with control of HCV infection.

The NIAAA should commence studies on the effects of alcohol in patients
with HCV. The findings should be widely distributed to patients and
community physicians in a timely manner.

Large natural history studies should be initiated to determine the
current natural history of HIV/HCV coinfected individuals.

The NIH's Office of AIDS Research should make available some of its
discretionary funding for basic and clinical research on HIV/HCV
coinfection.

The NIH should explore the desirability and feasibility of a Hepatitis
Clinical Trials Network. The network would carry out Phase I to IV clinical
studies with nested basic science research.

Future HCV treatment trials should stratify for HIV serostatus and
enroll both HIV-positive and HIV-negative people in order to gather these
critical data.

HCV treatment should be mandated in all state and federal prison
systems.

Transplant centers in the U.S. should consider HIV-positive people for
liver transplantation.

HCV patients must have access to their HCV RNA levels at timely
intervals (e.g., week 24) while on HCV treatment studies.

Schering Plough must unbundle Rebetron so that ribavirin can be
purchased separately.

Research should be conducted to determine the lowest effective dose of
ribavirin to minimize unnecessary toxicity.

All 50 U.S. states should add ribavirin to their Medicaid and ADAP
formularies.

Industry should conduct drug interaction studies of anti-HIV drugs in
HIV/HCV coinfected people while drugs are in development so that potential
hepatotoxicity and drug interactions are defined prior to approval.

The FDA should grant Hoffmann-La Roche's pegylated interferon NDA a
"priority review" because of the unmet medical need for therapies for HCV
patients with cirrhosis.

HCV treating physicians should fully explain the risk and benefits of
interferon/ribavirin combination therapy with their patients as well as
estimates of treatment response according to host and viral
characteristics.

Industry must actively recruit African Americans in all phases of HCV clinical trials. These studies should have the statistical power to assess racial differences in viral clearance and response rates.

Hepatitis treatment advocates should be included in all facets of NIH
decision making about hepatitis clinical and basic science research,
including protocol development, scientific agenda committees and grant
reviews.

A note from TheBody.com: The field of medicine is constantly evolving. As a result, parts of this article may be outdated. Please keep this in mind, and be sure to visit other parts of our site for more recent information!

The Body is a service of Remedy Health Media, LLC, 750 3rd Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10017. The Body and its logos are trademarks of Remedy Health Media, LLC, and its subsidiaries, which owns the copyright of The Body's homepage, topic pages, page designs and HTML code. General Disclaimer: The Body is designed for educational purposes only and is not engaged in rendering medical advice or professional services. The information provided through The Body should not be used for diagnosing or treating a health problem or a disease. It is not a substitute for professional care. If you have or suspect you may have a health problem, consult your health care provider.